The son of an ensign, Makarov graduated from the Maritime Academy in 1865 and was commissioned an ensign in the Russian navy in 1869. He became a brilliant and innovative naval architect, inventor, tactician, and ship designer. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, his new designs and tactics for torpedo boats were used on the Black Sea with notable success. He was a pioneering Russian oceanographer, and he also designed the first mine-laying ships intended exclusively for that purpose. His armour-piercing shells, known as Makarov tips, greatly increased the penetrating force of shells. He also designed and built the icebreaker Ermak to explore the Arctic.

Makarov became Russia’s youngest admiral at age 41 in 1890, and he was promoted to vice admiral in 1896. He held a series of increasingly important posts during the 1890s; in February 1904 he was appointed commander of the Pacific Ocean squadron at the start of the Russo-Japanese War and acquitted himself ably until three months later, when he was killed as his flagship, Petropavlovsk, struck a mine and sank.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.